On May 1, Dayton's largest pizza chain, Cassano's Pizza and Subs, is going low carb.

The 34-store pizzeria will begin offering the region's first low-carb pizza with crust. Columbus-based Donato's Pizza sells a low-carb pizza, but it has no crust.

Cassano's new nine-inch low-carb pepperoni pizza has only 5.5 net carbs per serving, or 11 net carbs per pizza, said Vic Cassano Jr., president and chairman of Cassano's. The pizza costs $6.99. By comparison, a typical slice of pepperoni pizza has 31 net carbs, according to pizzamarketplace.com.

"We realize the low-carb thing is going to be here for a while and it will probably never disappear," Cassano said, adding that 17 percent of Americans are on some sort of low-carb diet.

But the process of creating a tasty, affordable and easy-to-prepare low-carb pizza took months.

"From a crust standpoint, you've got to pull out all the good stuff (such as sugars and starches), and you've got to put in a lot of whole-wheat," Cassano said.

He and his sons Chip and Chris tried recipe after recipe at Cassano's dough-making plant in Kettering, but weren't able to come up with the right mix. It either wasn't cost effective or was as hard as a rock. He said he was then approached by a franchisee, who had found the right recipe.

But Cassano won't reveal the secret of his low-carb pizza except that it has a high protein, wafer-thin crust. The pizza competition is just too fierce.

"I know Pizza Hut is playing with it and I'm sure Domino's probably is," he said. "I can't believe everyone else isn't trying to get to the same place we are."

Despite the low-carb craze, Cassano said pizza orders have been on the rise. He said orders were up 28 percent in March compared with March 2003. A big part of the increase is the company's development of a one-call system, in which customers from across the region dial just one number, and operators send the orders to the appropriate store.

But he said the low-carb pizza could push sales through the roof.

"It has the potential of being really, really good, or just so so," he said. "But I have no doubt that it will sell."

Dayton's very own "Apprentice"

A local tech company is taking a cue from Donald Trump.

Troy-based MyTeam1 is joining Wright State University in a business contest similar to Trump's popular NBC reality show, "The Apprentice."

About 50 business graduates are competing for a $1,000 prize and the chance to work in marketing or sales at MyTeam1, a phone-services startup.

"We got interested in the Donald Trump show and decided to use a similar format for this activity to help our company and the students," said Leib Lurie, chief executive officer of MyTeam1.

The students will prepare several business plans that take products from the conception stage to market. Topics to be covered include market analysis, a marketing plan and financing.

"We plan to offer the best ones a sales or marketing role to execute their plans," Lurie said. "The four new products they are developing can each generate $250,000 or more as compensation for these young managers."

Of course, the losers will hear those now famous words: "You're fired."

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